While much of the NBA's focus has been on Dallas' perfect start, there's a team in the East that's doing pretty well, too.
The Indiana Pacers won their ninth in a row Friday night, improving the league's second-best record to 10-1, as Ron Artest shut down Tracy McGrady in a 106-70 victory over Orlando.
``I haven't mentioned it one time [to the players],'' Pacers coach Isiah Thomas said. ``I just want to win every basketball game we play. We try to take it one game at a time, play the game, win it and move on to the next game. Whatever happened two days ago or a week ago happened. The only thing you worry about is tonight's game.''
He had nothing to worry about against the Magic.
With Grant Hill missing his second game in a week because of a sore ankle, the Magic had four early turnovers and missed their first 11 shots before a basket by McGrady almost 6 minutes into the first quarter. By then, Indiana's lead was 10-2, and the Pacers were never threatened after that.
Indiana's biggest lead was at 104-65 in the closing minutes, and the final 36-point margin was its biggest since a 136-88 victory over Cleveland in 1999.
Artest had 15 points and held McGrady, the NBA scoring leader, to 13 points -- 20 points under his average.
``We played excellent defense tonight,'' Artest said. ``Everybody was focused on their man, we were focused on the team, helping each other out. It just led to them not scoring, having turnovers.''
Hill, who had just two points in 9 minutes at Portland on Thursday, was in uniform but stayed on the bench the whole game.
Coach Doc Rivers said he didn't know whether Hill would play on today against Miami.
``Our heart was in the right place, but we just had nothing for them,'' Rivers said. ``I expected them to come out like that. They have that swagger and that confidence going.''
Lakers 86, Bulls 73
At Los Angeles, Shaquille O'Neal had 17 points and seven rebounds in his season debut while playing 21 minutes.
O'Neal, coming back from September toe surgery, showed he could still make the big play, bringing a roar from the sellout crowd on a spectacular jump, catch and dunk off a lob by Rick Fox to give Los Angeles a 75-65 pad with 5:10 remaining.
Celtics 105, Hawks 98
At Boston, Paul Pierce scored 36 points -- including four straight in the second overtime to give Boston the lead for good.
The teams went into the second overtime tied at 94 after Pierce was unable to convert on a drive to the basket with a second left in the first overtime. Tony Battie gave the Celtics a 96-94 lead, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim tied the game before Pierce hit back-to-back shots to put the Celtics up for good.
Nets 120, Cavaliers 79
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Kenyon Martin had 21 points and 10 rebounds and the Nets hit 14 of their first 15 shots.
The energetic Nets finished 16-of-20 in the first quarter after being ripped by coach Byron Scott over a pitiful performance against Boston on Wednesday.
The margin grew to 21 in the second quarter and eventually got as high as 44.
Spurs 95, Grizzlies 86
At San Antonio, Tim Duncan had 28 points and 15 rebounds as San Antonio beat the Grizzlies for the 21st straight time, dropping Memphis' record to 0-13.
The Spurs were ahead by only five at the half, 48-43, but opened the third quarter with a 15-1 run.
Rockets 93, Wizards 86
At Houston, Yao Ming scored 18 points and blocked three shots in his first NBA start, and substitute starter Juaquin Hawkins led a third-quarter spurt.
After trailing 45-44 at the half, the Rockets outscored the Wizards 31-16 in the third quarter, including a 17-2 run early in the period. Hawkins had 13 of his 14 points in the quarter.
Kings 118, Suns 101
At Sacramento, California, Bobby Jackson scored 24 points to lead six players in double figures as the Kings won their fourth straight.
Chris Webber added 21 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, while Vlade Divac and Doug Christie scored 18 each and Peja Stojakovic had 14.
Hornets 105, Knicks 97, OT
At New Orleans, Jamal Mashburn scored 25 points and Jamaal Magloire and P.J. Brown each scored 20 as the Hornets remained unbeaten at home. Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston led New York with 23 points each, but Houston missed all five of his shots in the second half along with his only field-goal attempt in overtime.
Pistons 75, Heat 72
At Miami, Richard Hamilton scored 17 points and Ben Wallace pulled down a season-high 22 rebounds as the Pistons beat the Heat for the second time in three nights.
76ers 90, Raptors 80
At Philadelphia, Allen Iverson scored 31 points and Keith Van Horn added 13 points and 10 rebounds as the 76ers won for the fifth time in six games.
Bucks 95, Warriors 91
At Oakland, California, Ray Allen scored 31 points and hit a key 3-pointer down the stretch for Mil-waukee. Erick Dampier had a career-high 31 points and 14 rebounds for the Warriors, who held the lead for 3{ quarters but couldn't execute down the stretch.
Nuggets 72, Clippers 70
At Denver, James Posey hit an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer for the Nuggets, who rallied from a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
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